A town for sale, Odessa, Texas has seen better days — the financial bust is evident in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Just one hope sustains the community. Once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night lights, when the Permian High Panthers take to the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone — players and pastors, coaches and boosters, family and fans — seeks comfort in the religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a team of high-school athletes.